Student Craft has changed many times since its founding in 1893. Shifting ideas about interracial education in the Jim Crow South overpowered the momentum of its founding abolitionist, utopian vision. Philanthropic support for interracial education at Berea College was harder to raise in this new political context, and so a new funding source and storytelling apparatus was developed and supported through craft. Material objects distilled notions of what Berea College was, and what values it upheld—such as a growing pride in the region’s Anglo-Saxon, pioneering ancestry. The initial interest in regional designs like the overshot coverlet and ladder-back chair gave way in the early 1900s to the national interest in the Colonial Revival. By the 1950s, each of the workshops in Student Craft were following distinct initiatives, ranging from industrial-level production to modern design led by materials and process. The constant through these eras has been student participation—by developing hand skills through collaborative work, students actively engage in the storytelling ability of objects.
Frost's Appalachia
In 1893 Berea College President William G. Frost traveled the Appalachian Mountains and was inspired by the regional craft. A year later, a student brought a handwoven coverlet to him and offered it as payment for tuition. This sparked the College’s production of Appalachian material culture, initially by families as a cottage industry and then by students in the Labor Program: first with weaving’s Fireside Industries, influentially led by Swedish-born Anna Ernberg from 1911-1936.
Objects like these were used in fundraising missions by Frost as testaments to the worthiness and integrity of mountain culture, which Frost was helping to invent and construct. They reveal a fascination in and exoticization of a region marked reportedly by geographic isolation and lacking in economic opportunity. Frost called these Anglo-Saxon mountaineers “our contemporary ancestors,” a concept that belied the region’s tri-racial history, but one that appealed to people fearful of decades of immigration from Asia and southern and eastern Europe. Berea College used these objects to tell a new story– one that required a breach of the original mission of interracial education amid a rising tide of segregation nationally–about whiteness and nostalgia in the South.
Overshot Coverlet, “Whig Rose” pattern
Berea College Fireside Industries
1920-1940
Linen, wool
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2021.15.1
Clay Bricks
Berea College Student Industries - Ceramics
1902
Ceramic
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2006.22.1, 2006.22.3
Wrought Iron Door Latch
Berea College Student Industries - Blacksmithing
1935-1936
Wrought iron, oak display
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2009.24.1b,c; 2005.32.1
Hand-Carved Wooden Platter
Berea College Student Industries - Woodcraft
1934-1940
Walnut
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2016.20.1
Melon Basket and Small Egg Basket
Left to right:
Berea College Fireside Weaving
1927-1940 and May 27, 1918
Hickory hoops and white oak splits
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2012.25.1 and 2011.29.2
Ladderback or Mule Ear Chair
Berea College Student Industries - Woodcraft
1900-1930
Maple, oak, woven hickory bark
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2018.2.2
Colonial Revival
With roots in designs displayed at the 1876 Centennial celebrations, the Colonial Revival was in full swing by the 1920s. One key figure was Wallace Nutting who helped middle-class consumers enter the fantasy of domestic, colonial American life through hand-painted photographs and period furniture reconstructions made at his factory in Framingham, Massachusetts. These works provided a sense of simplicity and stability in history, tradition, and western European heritage. Welcomed by those threatened by immigration, technological change, and modern society, Berea College harnessed these sentiments as it became an all-white institution due to Kentucky’s notorious Day Law.
Nutting and his wife Mariet became long standing patrons of Berea’s woodcraft and Fireside Industries. Through financial and educational support, they shifted the College’s production towards simplified Nutting designs collected from the Northeast’s past. But the contemporary moment was, of course, always present– exemplified here in the sparkly, modern, synthetic fibers used in the woven purse and pin cushion.
An Elaborate Dinner
Wallace Nutting
1909
Original: Hand-painted photograph
Image Courtesy of Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
Hearthsweep
Berea College Student Industries - Broomcraft
1945-1960
Dyed broomcorn, tin wire, hemp cord, braided broomcorn stalk handle, pine wood
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
1993.12.1
Pin Cushion
Berea College Fireside Industries
1950-1965
Cotton, metallic thread, silk
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2010.9.1
Magazine Rack
Berea College Student Industries - Woodcraft
1938-1941
Walnut, oak, hickory bark
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2011.21.1
Purse
Berea College Fireside Industries
1950-1965
Cotton, metallic thread, silk
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2001.14.1
“Butterfly Table”
Designed by Wallace Nutting, Produced by Berea College Student Industries - Woodcraft
1930-1960
Cherry
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2009.15.1
“Pig” Foot Warmer
Berea College Student Industries - Woodcraft
1934-1940
Maple and mahogany
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2011.1.1
Mid-Century Shuffle
Only recently has Student Craft become unified in direction and mission. For much of its history each craft shop set unique goals for themselves and their students. The mid-twentieth century was a particularly notable time for the variety of ambitions across the workshops.
Broomcraft was run by members of the Reed family from 1958-2010. Students were paid piecework, rather than an hourly rate, until the 1980s. This supported a high-production environment while still maintaining quality– Sears, for example, was a major retailer of their brooms.
The Ceramics studio was largely associated with the Art Department and did not produce many standardized objects for sale. Shortly after Walter Hyleck became a professor of ceramics, he started a production-potter apprenticeship in 1970 that directly connected the ceramics studio to Student Craft.
Following the decline in popularity of Colonial Revival designs, Woodcraft had to pivot to keep up with changing tastes. Staff continued to produce domestic wares, such as these candlesticks from a modernist sensibility, and leisure-time games were a staple contribution to the catalog.
Weaving produced heritage goods sold via the catalog and made items for communities on campus. This dress for the Berea College Country Dancers was one of about 25 produced. The troupe performed widely, including at an event at the White House for John F. Kennedy, performing folk dances from around the world and especially from Appalachia and Denmark.
“Dutchess” Broom (Recreation of a broom sold by Sears)
Berea College Student Industries - Broomcraft
1990’s
Broomcorn, lacquered wood, tinned broomwire, nylon, leather
Candle Holders
Berea College Student Industries - Woodcraft
1955-1965
Cherry
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2005.34.1 (a & b)
Berea College Country Dancers Dress
Berea College Fireside Industries
c. 1970
Cotton
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2004.68.14
Ceramic Dish (hand-formed over stone, hand painted), Cup, and Small Ceramic Dish
Left to right:
Ceramic Dish (hand-formed over stone, hand painted)
Berea College Student Industries - Ceramics, Signed “M”
1955
Glazed stoneware
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2006.19.1
Cup
Berea College Student Industries - Ceramics, Signed “AK”
1950-early 1960s
Glazed stoneware
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2021.3.1
Small Ceramic Dish
Berea College Student Industries - Ceramics, Signed “B Perry”
1950s - early 1960s
Glazed stoneware
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2005.31.1